Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SPELLS OF HOME by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS

Poet Analysis

First Line: BY THE SOFT GREEN LIGHT IN THE WOODY GLADE
Last Line: AND THE KINDLY SPELL SHALL HAVE POWER ONCE MORE!
Subject(s): HOME; WOMEN;
By the soft green light in the woody glade,
On the banks of moss where thy childhood played,
By the household tree through which thine eye
First looked in love to the summer sky,
By the dewy gleam, by the very breath
Of the primrose-tufts in the grass beneath,
Upon thy heart there is laid a spell,
Holy and precious -- oh, guard it well!

By the sleepy ripple of the stream,
Which hath lulled thee into many a dream,
By the shiver of the ivy leaves
To the wind of morn at thy casement eaves,
By the bee's deep murmur in the limes,
By the music of the Sabbath chimes,
By every sound of thy native shade,
Stronger and dearer the spell is made.

By the gathering round the winter hearth,
When twilight called unto household mirth,
By the fairy tale or the legend old
In that ring of happy faces told,
By the quiet hour when hearts unite
In the parting prayer and the kind "Good-night!"
By the smiling eye, and the loving tone,
Over thy life has the spell been thrown.

And bless that gift! -- it hath gentle might,
A guardian power and a guiding light.
It hath led the freeman forth to stand
In the mountain-battles of his land;
It hath brought the wanderer o'er the seas
To die on the hills of his own fresh breeze;
And back to the gates of his father's hall
It hath led the weeping prodigal.

Yes! when thy heart, in its pride, would stray
From the pure first-loves of its youth away --
When the sullying breath of the world would come
O'er the flowers it brought from its childhood's home --
Think thou again of the woody glade,
And the sound by the rustling ivy made --
Think of the tree at thy father's door,
And the kindly spell shall have power once more!



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